Chapter 209: Repentance Camp

"Repentance?"

The word, like a stone thrown into a dead pond, stirred ripples within the purification hall.

Wang Wenyan stood up; his voice was not loud, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly.

"That's right, Repentance."

"Your sins are like filth clinging to your souls. To cleanse them, merely enduring pain is insufficient. You must prove your remorse through action."

He pointed at the flatbreads and the clear water.

"The Wang Family is here to help you. We came to this land to establish order and bring new life. We mine the mountains to forge sharper farming tools, so more people can eat their fill. We set up workshops to weave warmer cloths, so more people are shielded from the cold."

"We are performing a great act of kindness."

His words left all the Japanese stunned.

In their understanding, it was indeed the Wang Family that fed them, clothed them, and gave them the courage to survive. Yet they never knew how great their sins from the previous life were; still, the Wang Family continues to help them, and this fills them with overwhelming gratitude.

"You labor for the Wang Family, which seems like suffering, but in fact each drop of your sweat participates in this great act of kindness, washing away a trace of your sins for yourselves."

"Unfortunately..." Wang Wenyan's face showed a pained, anguished expression, "Your bodies have been eroded by sin to such a degree that you can no longer partake in this great undertaking."

Those words pierced them harshly.

Indeed, they are now useless, not even qualified to serve the Wang Family as beasts of burden.

They no longer even have a chance for atonement.

A dread more terrifying than death shrouded them.

At that moment, Wang Wenyan's voice rose again, like a faint glimmer in the darkness.

"But heaven does not cut off all paths. The Head of Family, in mercy, has shown a brand‑new Repentance Path for those of you who have remorse in heart but lack strength to act!"

Everyone's gaze instantly fixed on him, eyes like drowning people clutching the last straw.

"From today onward, this place is no longer a purification hall. This place is Repentance Camp!"

"All who voluntarily join the Repentance Camp will be reborn. You will shed your diseased bodies and obtain pure souls!"

He began describing the Path of Repentance.

It is a road unlike any other.

They no longer need to labor, no longer need to endure hunger. What they must do is learn.

They will study a brand‑new doctrine, a doctrine crafted by Wang Wenyan especially for them, called the Great Awakening Repentance Way.

The core of the doctrine is simple: the flesh is a sack that bears sin, the source of suffering. Only by discarding the flesh and wholly dedicating the soul to the Wang Family's great‑good enterprise can one attain the ultimate Great Awakening, be reborn in the next life as a member of the Wang Family, and enjoy eternal blessings.

To help them repent more effectively, Wang Wenyan devised a strict ritual for them.

Each day, the first thing they must do is shave their heads, symbolizing the severing of worldly ties.

Then they will don uniform white robes, symbolizing pure, flawless purity.

They will abandon their former names, for a name is the final link to a sinful past. They will receive a brand‑new designation—a cold number.

Each day they must undertake twelve shi‑chen of Repentance practice.

In the morning comes Silent Repentance. They sit cross‑legged, guided by Wang Wenyan, engaging in prolonged meditation. During meditation they continuously recall the sins they have committed across past and present lives and repent for them.

In the afternoon comes Active Repentance. They are required to perform various extreme physical tasks. For example, under scorching sun they bear heavy stones, repeatedly climbing up and down hills, or in frigid winter they strip naked and soak in icy river water.

Wang Wenyan tells them this is not punishment but purification. Each exhaustion, each bone‑chilling cold, helps their souls strip away a layer of sinful filth.

At night comes Verbal Repentance. They gather together before Wang Wenyan, loudly reciting the scripture he composed. The scripture merely reiterates the baseness of the flesh, the weight of sin, and that dedicating everything to the Wang Family is the sole path to salvation.

The most terrifying is the final Enlightenment Repentance.

Wang Wenyan will periodically show them the new weapons from the Wang Family Armory.

He will let them personally touch the cold gunpowder barrels, telling them that within lies the fire of purification.

He will have them watch the explosion of the powder packs, telling them that the flash of fire is the gateway to Ultimate Bliss Pure Land.

He uses an almost hypnotic method to implant a terrifying equation in their minds:

Death = dedication = atonement = Ultimate Bliss.

Wang Heng stood at a distance, watching all this with cold eyes.

He watched the once‑numb, desperate Japanese, who, under Wang Wenyan's guidance, changed day by day.

Their gazes were no longer hollow. In their place burned a fervor, a yearning for a happy life in the next world.

They no longer moan or weep. Even during Active Repentance, exhausted to the point of foaming at the mouth or frozen until their bodies turn purple, not a trace of pain appears on their faces; instead they wear a blissful smile.

They are like a troupe of puppets whose souls have been removed.

Wang Heng felt a chill rising from deep within his heart.

He is a butcher who kills without blinking, but the ones he slaughters are the "people" who would resist and fear.

And Wang Wenyan, what he is creating are a group of "non‑humans" who crave death and embrace annihilation.

Finally, a month after the Repentance Camp was founded, Wang Wenyan decided to conduct the first Test.

He led the first hundred transformed camp members to the Training Field outside Zhenbei City.

He pointed at a cold river and, in a calm tone, issued the order.

"The river water can cleanse your final worldly filth. Enter and feel its coolness until I tell you to come out."

There was not a hint of hesitation.

One hundred white‑robed camp members, like puppets, marched in orderly steps into the piercing river.

The river quickly submerged their chests.

Cold seeped into their marrow, yet no expression appeared on their faces. They simply stood quietly, hands clasped, whisper‑softly chanting the repentance scripture.

One shi‑chen passed.

Some already began to shiver violently, unable to endure the severe cold.

Two shi‑chen passed.

Some began to fall, swept away by the icy river water, disappearing downstream.

But the remaining people still stood.

No one retreated, no one cried for help.

In their eyes, there was not even fear of death, only an anticipation and calm of impending "liberation".

Wang Heng stood on the bank, his hand gripping the hilt tightly.

He looked at those figures in the river, like sculptures, and for the first time felt that his proud blade and the army capable of suppressing everything seemed somewhat powerless before these "monsters".

He turned his head, looking at Wang Wenyan beside him, whose face was filled with pity, like an enlightened monk, and asked word by word:

"You... what exactly have you made?"

Wang Wenyan smiled slightly, palms together.

"Governor, they are not things."

"They are the Wang Family's Saints."